The Ocean Above Us

"There's so many constants and variables, I never thought..."- Dusk Shine, in a discussion with the Lutece twins.

Oceana finished her game, and a large quantity of bits was rewarded. Nimbus was able to get 2 Medikits with his money, and got a candy bar for Oceana. Just like Trixie said, the Medkit’s contents healed his wound quickly, as if by magic. Even the bullet seemed to dissipate as his skin closed and his coat grew back over it.

“Isn’t that something?” Nimbus said to himself, moving his foreleg around to test it’s range of motion. He helped Oceana onto his back, and she happily chewed on the candy bar.

“Are you going to be okay?” Fluttershy asked him.

“Yes, I’m fine. We need to get going, Photo’s got a 10 minute advantage on us.”

As they exited the arcade and continued through the food court, they encountered no more Splicers. Nimbus used the grace period to check his machine gun ammo. There were five bullets left in one magazine, and a full 40 in the other.

The corridor that led into Photo’s Booth was eerily silent. There were no Splicers, there were no Big Daddies, there was nothing. Nimbus stopped in front of the door and produced his radio.

“Trixie, we’re outside of Photo’s Booth.”

“Good, now let Trixie in! The door is on the inside of the lobby level.”

Nimbus approached the door, and it opened automatically. He took a few steps inside, and motioned for Fluttershy to stay back as the door shut. He carefully turned the corner, but was met with an Electro Bolt. The searing jolt made him rear back, making him drop his weapon and causing Oceana to slide off of him. He regained his focus, and saw the source of the attack. A light blue earth pony with a white mane stood across the room from him, but a pair of glass doors quickly sealed him off from her. He could still see what she wore, though, an odd black and white striped dress, and a pair of pink tinted sunglasses.

“It is funny,” Photo Finish said, “Fluttershy said zhat she did not vant to help me, but yet, here she is.”

“We just need your camera!” Nimbus said, glaring at her, “We don’t need all of this extra crap you’re throwing at us!”

“My camera, hah! Vhat a joke. Now, come Fluttershy, your career avaits.”

“I...” Fluttershy began.

“You vhat?” Photo Finish interjected.

“I don’t want to. I... can’t!”

“You reject me, Photo Finish, a second time? Nein! Nein! Nein! Bring me zhat foolish girl!” She ordered, to nopony in particular. Suddenly, there was a ravenous shriek as the outside windows exploded inward. In through the windows came a familiar figure, a sleek mare in a diver’s suit. On one of her forelegs was an extended needle, and on her helmet there was a bullet shaped dent.

“You again!” Nimbus turned around to face the Big Sister.

“Do vhatever vith zhese two,” Photo said, and grinned evilly as the Big Sister began to attack Nimbus. Nimbus dove for his gun, but the Sister managed to kick it out of his reach as he fell on the ground. The Big Sister was standing over him, but Nimbus kicked out with his back legs and fumbled for his crossbow. Using Electro Bolt to stun the Big Sister, Nimbus was able to stand up and load the weapon.

“Get her, Brother!” Oceana called to him.

The Big Sister broke from her stunned state with a powerful thrust of her needle, which barely scraped Nimbus’s cheek. Aiming down the sight of his crossbow, he lined up a shot with the Sister’s head. When he pulled the trigger, the bolt pierced the Sister’s left foreleg and pinned it up against the wall, immobilizing his opponent. She screamed out in pain, and attempted to yank the metal out. Nimbus retrieved his machine gun, and began to discharge his weapon on the pinned Big Sister.

Her hoof suddenly came around, pulling the bolt from it’s place in her foreleg and swinging it like a knife. It found itself buried in the wall on the other side of her as she followed up with a stab with her needle. Nimbus dodged the needle by stepping to the side, but stepped right into her grapple, and she pushed him into the wall. She rose her needle, and thrust it, but with whatever luck, the needle completely missed Nimbus and embedded itself in the wall next to him. As she struggled to pull her weapon out of the wall, Nimbus retrieved the used bolt out of the wall, and made his attack with it.

The bolt shattered the Big Sister’s visor, and cracked her skull open. With a warrior’s shout, Nimbus slammed his free hoof into the back of her head, causing her to slam face first into the ground. The bolt was pushed further into her cranial cavity, and blood began to pool on the ground. It was settled.

“Did... did you just kill that Big Sister?” Trixie asked, looking in from a window to Nimbus’s front, “You must finish her, before she recovers!”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Take her ADAM, absorb it all!”

“Wha-”

“Just do it!”

Nimbus lifted the Big Sister’s heavily armored corpse, and placed a hoof over the hole in her head. Focusing, he felt her ADAM begin to drain into him, but he didn’t stop like he would for a Little Sister. He sucked every last drop of ADAM dry, and felt the body become that much lighter. Nimbus let the body drop, and looked to his side, where Photo Finish stood with an expression of horror on her face.

“Vhat have you done?” she called out, “My career is ruined! Fluttershy, vhy have you done zhis to me?”

“You...” Fluttershy started weakly, but her voice got stronger with each word, “You brought this on yourself.”

“That’s enough, Photo, let us in!” Nimbus knocked on the reinforced glass doors separating them.

“Just finish zhe job...” she turned around and pressed a button, and the doors slid open. Nimbus stepped in, and looked at her expectantly.

“Vhat?” She asked, looking around, as if expecting something worse from him.

“Give me your camera,” he commanded.

“Kill her!” Trixie called out, angrily banging her hooves on the window separating them. “Open this door, Trixie wants to do it!”

“Is zhis some joke?” Photo Finish looked at him in disbelief.

“I came here to ask you for your help.”

“You...” Photo Began, but then suddenly became consumed with rage, “Nein! First, you break down my doors, then, you humiliate me, Photo Finish!” She fired an Electro Bolt from her hoof, but Nimbus’s pipe connected with her jaw as he dodged the attack. She fell to the floor, but rose again, steadying herself.

“I came here to ask you for help!” Nimbus shouted, lashing out with his pipe as she attempted to attack again, “I never wanted to hurt you!”

“Please...” She said quietly, “Just kill me. My camera is on my desk right over there.”

Nimbus turned, and saw that the device was indeed there, and Trixie was still glaring angrily at him. He saw her pick up the radio.

“If you want to take your revenge on her, Trixie doesn’t care. You deserve it. Or, you can let Trixie take revenge, if you like.”

Nimbus thought about it for a moment. He needed to be a good role model, not for himself, but for Oceana. She was watching him, and his decision was going to reflect onto her. He wasn’t a killer, he was a protector, and as much as he wanted to take revenge against this mare, he just couldn’t do it.

“Get up,” he said, tossing his spare Med-kit on the ground in front of her.

“You’re... You’re schparing me?”

“Yes, get up.”

“What are you doing?” Trixie fumed.

“Photo Finish,” Nimbus took a gentler tone, “I want you to take Trixie, and make her into your star.”

“What?” Came Trixie’s response, “How can you say that, after all that she’s done?”

“You need somepony who knows what she’s doing. Who better than Rapture’s finest photographer?”

“You... You are kind... I vill do as you ask, in return for you sparing my life, but I do not trust Trixie.”

Nimbus looked to the window, where the magician was looking in.

“Trixie? Can you let this go?”

Trixie sighed, and nodded her head.

“For now, yes. Trixie needs her pictures...”

Nimbus opened the door that kept Trixie out. She walked in, and after exchanging unhappy glares, they shook hooves.

“Danke...”

Trixie stood on the stage, looking down upon Nimbus, Fluttershy, and Oceana. Photo Finish stood behind her on the stage, preparing her camera.

“Like Trixie promised, you may go through to Arcadia, but first, allow me to grace you with a gift. She produced a vial from beneath her cape, one that held a glowing grey substance. “For one who not only possesses such charisma as to lead others, but also has humbled Trixie, you deserve this Plasmid.”

Nimbus took the Plasmid, and prepared it like he always had. Upon injecting himself, he noticed that the pain from getting new Plasmids had died down. That didn’t stop the pain from the ruptures that began to break out of his forelegs. As the Plasmid did it’s work, he saw his fur and flesh opening, releasing a cloud of white hot mist. He blinked, and it was gone. The hallucination from the Plasmid was over.

“It’s called Steam Jet. Trixie created it to improve her disappearing act, but a warrior like yourself might find the force from the jet is rather powerful.”

Nimbus cringed at what Trixie called him. Was he really a warrior? The term implied that he was exclusively good at fighting, which, as useful as it was for a place like this, wasn’t exactly a good trait by some standards.

“Thank you,” Nimbus said, and watched as Trixie disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“Fly away, little firefly,” Came Trixie’s disembodied voice.

Photo Finish nodded to him, and they began their exit. Just as she promised, Trixie had opened the gates to the bathysphere. When he and his companions stepped inside, Nimbus heard Athena talking over the radio.

“Hey, kid, I just got your signal again, what happened? Are you okay?”

“I had a run in with Trixie,” Nimbus said, pulling the bathysphere lever, “She was jamming the signal so I would help her, but I’m on my way to Arcadia now.”

“Trixie? Wow, thought she would've made you stay longer. Whatever, just be careful, Ryan will know that you’re on the move.”

Nimbus looked out the bathysphere window, and sighed. This city was beautiful on the outside, but how was it any better than the surface?

“Are you okay, Fluttershy?” Nimbus looked to her, who had been quite quiet.

“I... I don’t know what to think about all of this... This place seemed so nice, but...” Fluttershy sighed, “I just want to go home, but we need to make sure your sister is okay.”

“Right...” Nimbus said, as the bathysphere surfaced in a hallway. Outside was a sign indicating that they were indeed in Arcadia. All around the walkway, there were trees, shrubs, and all sorts of other plants surrounding them. Nimbus took a few steps into the forested room, and spoke into his radio.

“Athena, we’re in Arcadia.”

“Good, now I don’t know where Topside will be, but I do know two ponies who could tell ya. The first is Octavia. You can find her in the Music Hall, just follow the sounds of her cello. The other one is Vinyl Scratch, she’ll be at the bar. I’d recommend finding Vinyl first, because she’s a bit more easygoing.”

“What about Ryan?”

“I don’t know, kid, sorry. Most I can tell ya is to be careful.”

The door to the rest of Arcadia opened up, and Nimbus’s jaw dropped. The forest had completely taken over the entire area. Vines and weeds sprouted from all walls and spots on the floor, and flowers burst through the openings of vending machines. Why anypony would stay in this place was beyond him. Although, if Johnny Topside was on the run, this would be a good place to hold up. Nimbus approached a sign that had been tangled in a vine. As he pulled away the loose vegetation, he got a good look at what the sign read.

“Market Place, Bass Hammer” were above an arrow pointing left, and “Oxygen Control, Music Hall” were above an arrow pointing right. Bass Hammer sounded like the name of a bar, so Nimbus turned left and began to walk, clearing a path through the plants for his follower to pass through.

He entered the marketplace, and began to search for a sign towards the bar.

“Look, Brother, an angel... and she has flowers...” Oceana called out, pointing a hoof in the direction of a corpse. It was another mare, this one with a mint green coat and mane, and a lyre on her flank. What was interesting about the body were the odd flowers that were placed upon her. The petals were the same color as her fur, and the center of each one was yellow. They covered all over her face, obscuring her eyes and mouth, and also on her forelegs and body. As he set Oceana down to gather ADAM, she curiously inspected the body.

“They’re pretty...” Fluttershy said meekly.

“There’s no ADAM... oh well...” she reported, tugging at one of the flowers on the dead mare. It gave resistance, and she tugged on it again. Nimbus went to give it a pull, and he realized that he flowers had not been placed on her.

They were growing from inside of her.

Fluttershy was silent as Nimbus revealed a tear in the pony’s skin where the stem of the flower had sprouted from. He could only imagine what is must’ve been like to go through this, especially on the face. Nimbus shuddered and turned to Fluttershy, who had adopted the frozen stance she had made use of so much here in Rapture. She took a step back.

“Fluttershy, we need to get moving.”

“But...”

“Fluttershy.” Nimbus put Oceana back on his back and began to walk in the opposite direction.

“What was that, brother?” Oceana asked innocently. “Why did she have flowers inside her?”

“I don’t know, we’re going to find out.”

On their way to the bar, Nimbus had encountered more of the odd flower ridden corpses. There was a rhythmic thumping coming from somewhere close. Following the beat, he discovered it was coming from what he had assumed was the bar. He approached the door to the bar, a traditional door, and pushed it open. The music became louder, and he instantly picked up the scent of alcohol.

Several ponies were present in the bar, either having a good time, or fighting each other. Amidst it all was a white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane, a cyan streak through it, and a pair of purple tinted sunglasses over her eyes. She stood behind a pair of turntables on a stage, that distributed the loud dubtrot music throughout a large speaker system. The DJ nodded as the three entered, and approached her.

“This ain’t the place for kids,” She called, her voice a bit rough. She probably shouted like that all the time.

“This city ain’t the place for kids,” Nimbus replied, a deep, commanding tone in his voice, and suddenly the DJ stopped the music.

“What? Whoa, chill your jimmies, brony.”

“I’m looking for a Vinyl Scratch.”

“That’d be me. What can I do for you?”

Their conversation was interrupted by a disgruntled patron, who waved a gun around lazily.

“Hey! Music the... on back...” He was obviously intoxicated, as his eyes weren’t completely open, and he wobbled back and forth on three hooves. Nimbus took no chances, though. The drunk fired, but missed him completely. Before he could take another shot, Nimbus nailed him in the chest with his machine gun. Fluttershy only sighed.

“Whoa there, cowboy, I know he had a gun and all, but-”

“Would you kindly tell me what the buck is going on here? The entire place is being overrun by plants, and you’re just in here, playing some music?”

The other patrons began to get rowdy.

Vinyl dropped her voice to a whisper, “Look, I gotta give these guys something. They’re all infected!”

“Infected? With what?”

“They call it the Green Hoof. You get it by coming in contact with the pink flowers around here. Once you have it... you get an itchy rash beneath your coat, in the shape of a diamond, and then...”

Nimbus made the connection. "... I saw..." was all he could say.

“Don’t worry, I have a friend who’s working on a cure. Now, can I help you?”

“I’m looking for somepony named Johnny Topside. I heard he was hiding out up here?”

“Yeah, that’s right, but I don’t know exactly where he is. You might want to ask Zecora.”

Fluttershy gasped, “Oh no, Zecora’s trapped here too?”

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Vinyl replied. “She’s the one working on the cure, actually, you should go find her. She could use the help of a gunslinging slayer of ponies like yourself.” Nimbus flinched internally at the label placed upon him.

“What are you going to do?” Nimbus asked.

“I’m doing what I can to keep the plants from coming in here. I found that the heavy bass keeps them away, but I don’t know how to get rid of them completely...”

Nimbus sighed, and began to exit the bar. All of this was getting him nowhere.

“Hey, wait!” Vinyl called, and raised a radio for him to see. “Keep in touch?”

“Yeah, sure,” Nimbus rose his own radio, and gave her his frequency. Outside of the bar, Nimbus noticed that there was something off. The plants had taken over more of the surrounding area. They grew quickly.

“Nimbus...” Fluttershy said, putting a hoof on his shoulder, “I don’t want to get Green Hoof...”

“You’ll be fine, Fluttershy,” Nimbus assured her, “Just avoid any pink flowers, and you will be fine.”

An ominous, frightening voice came over the radio.

“This is what becomes of those who use my garden for themselves, and only themselves!” It was Andrew Ryan, and Nimbus began to smell smoke. There was something burning somewhere close...

“Ryan? What are you doing?”

“Only what needs to be done to destroy you... you parasite...”

He quickly switched over to Athena’s channel.

“Athena, Ryan’s setting a torch to Arcadia!”

A few moments later, the reply came, “What? Kid, ya gotta get outta there!”

“No, I need to find Topside, now!”